Activity

 * Encourage everyone to participate in the cooking and table setting. Everyone should have a meal-related job. If complicated dishes and menus limit the time that the family can be together, switch to simpler meals. The microwave, crock pot, and take-out can be your best allies in this.
 * Make sure everyone who is home is seated before beginning the meal. Start together. If someone is coming home too late for this, perhaps everyone can at least have dessert together later.
 * Turn the television off! Turn the television off! Over half of American families leave the television on during dinner, severely interfering with conversation. Reading during the meal is also not allowed.
 * Engage everyone in conversation, even the youngest family members. For example, ask the children to tell about three things, no matter how small, that they learned in school that day. This type of strategy will lead to other topics of conversation. Ask questions that require more than a one word answer. Quiz the kids on American presidents and state capitals. Find out who they like and hate. Invite family members to share interesting experiences, plans, jokes, upcoming events, and news. Ask the kids to tell one thing that happened to them that day that is both new and good, or to tell about their ideal vacation, or about a family tradition they enjoy. Have them talk about a mistake they made recently, or complete the sentence, "I hope..." What is their ideal meal and where they would eat it? If they had the chance to spend all day with a famous person, who would it be? Who is the person they admire most and why? There is no right or wrong way to go about this, and the possibilities are endless. Do what works best to encourage conversation in your family.
 * Create a pleasant tone. Avoid disciplinary discussions that could be handled at another time. Family meals are not the time to reprimand a child for not doing chores or for problems in school. Try not to fight with the children about what they are or are not eating.
 * Make a special atmosphere for this special time by using such things as candles, flowers, or soft music.
 * Make sure that everyone is finished before anyone leaves the table without permission. Anyone who's finished early should linger, listen, and participate.
 * Get everyone involved in the clean-up.